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In This Moment

In This Moment is an American metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed by singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth in 2005. They found drummer Jeff Fabb and started the band as Dying Star. Unhappy with their musical direction, they changed their name to In This Moment and gained two band members, guitarist Blake Bunzel and bassist Josh Newell. In 2005, bassist Newell left the band and was replaced by Pascual Romero, who was later replaced by Jesse Landry.

Their debut album, Beautiful Tragedy, was released in 2007. Their follow up, titled The Dream was released the following year debuting at number 73 on the Billboard 200. The band's third album, A Star-Crossed Wasteland was released in 2010, and their fourth album titled Blood was released in August 2012 and debuted at number 15. Their fifth album titled Black Widow was released in November 2014 and debuted at number 8, their highest position in the charts to date. Ritual, their sixth, was released in the summer of 2017 and debuted at number 23.

The band's line up has changed several times. Landry was replaced by Kyle Konkiel in 2009 and Konkiel was replaced by Travis Johnson in 2010. Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel left the band in 2011, and were replaced by Tom Hane and Randy Weitzel respectively. In March 2016, drummer Tom Hane announced his departure from the band and was replaced by Kent Diimmel, formerly of 3 By Design.

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In August 2005, singer Maria Brink and guitarist Chris Howorth met through some common friends. After becoming acquainted, and finding that there was much in common between them, they began writing songs together. Soon thereafter they enlisted the help of Los Angeles drummer Jeff Fabb and formed the band Dying Star.[3] Unhappy with where the band was headed, they decided to take on a new musical direction. By mid-2005, the lineup included Brink, Howorth, Fabb, guitarist Blake Bunzel, and bassist Josh Newell. The band recorded demos and posted them on MySpace. During the winter of 2005, Newell departed from the band to focus on his other project, Ketaset, as well as his audio engineering work. Producer Pascual Romero was then the bassist for a time before friend of the band Jesse Landry was eventually tapped to round out the band permanently. Rob "Blasko" Nicholson, the bassist for Ozzy Osbourne became the band's manager after discovering them through MySpace.[4]

In This Moment released their second album entitled The Dream on September 30, 2008. The album received mostly positive reviews and marked the band's debut on the Billboard 200, debuting at number 73. The album was produced by Kevin Churko and featured a less heavy approach, with a bigger focus on clean vocals from Brink.[6][7][8] The album has produced many live favorites such as "Forever", "You Always Believed", and "Into the Light", the latter of which is still performed at most of their shows. The song "Forever" was released as the album's lead single. To support the release, the band went on tour with Five Finger Death Punch, Mudvayne, Papa Roach, and Filter. They also appeared on the Give It a Name tour in the UK and were on the 2009 Warped Tour line-up, playing on the Ernie Ball Stage. They also played at Download Festival 2009 on the second stage.[9] A cover of Blondie's "Call Me" was released as the second single from The Dream. The cover appears on the special edition, titled The Dream: Ultraviolet Edition to coincide with Warped Tour, which included unreleased tracks and acoustic performances.[10]

In the fall of 2009, Maria Brink and Chris Howorth announced that the band has begun writing for the next album, citing it to be darker and heavier. Brink revealed the album title A Star-Crossed Wasteland on her official site in February 2010. After being named the Hottest Chick in Metal at the Revolver Golden God awards in April 2010, Maria Brink stated in an interview that A Star-Crossed Wasteland will be released on July 13, 2010. The album's first single, "The Gun Show" was released to iTunes on June 1, 2010. The album sold 10,500 copies, debuting at number 40.[11]

In May 2011, In This Moment posted on Facebook that they were working on new material for a new album hoping for a 2012 release. This release was recorded without founding members Jeff Fabb and Blake Bunzel, who were both working with James Durbin as of September, 2011.[13] In November 2011, In This Moment took part in the ShipRockedmusic cruise alongside Candlebox, Hinder, Filter, Sevendust, Buckcherry, and many more.[14]Blood was the first album following the band parting ways with longtime manager, Blasko. Blood was revealed to be the album's title on April 6, 2012. On May 14, 2012, it was announced that the album would be released on August 14, 2012.[15]Blood was released as the album's first single on June 12, 2012 and the album artwork and track listing followed on June 18, 2012.[16] Both the single and album were certified Gold, with sales of 500,000 copies by the Recording Industry Association of America on the Spring of 2017.[17]

On April 16, 2013, In This Moment announced on Facebook that they would be filming their first concert DVD at the Orpheum Theater in Madison, WI. The show was filmed on May 21 and features a special stage setup, costume changes, props, and dancers. This show also marked the first appearance of the Blood girls on stage. The set list composed heavily on Blood. Blood at the Orpheum was released on January 21, 2014 and features interviews with Maria along with behind the scenes rehearsal footage. The film was directed by Brad Golowin and the live audio was mixed and mastered by producer Kevin Churko.

In This Moment announced on February 5, 2014 that they had left Century Media and have signed with Atlantic Records, which will release their fifth album and first with a major label. They also revealed that they were set to enter the studio on February 23 to begin recording their fifth studio album and follow up to Blood. Chris Howorth said, "We have a bunch of ideas and the way we did Blood was different than we'd done any album before. We brought ideas and pieces and parts into the studio and wrote each song in the studio, one at a time. All the other albums we had the songs formatted and together already. So we're going to do the same thing again. We're gonna try to replicate the magic of Blood and try to take the style and sound we had for Blood and just do it bigger and better while still keeping true to that same vibe. That's our sound. We feel like we found something and want to stick the flag in the ground on top of that hill."[1]

The first single, "Sick Like Me" from the band's album, Black Widow was released to digital retailers on September 9, 2014 while the album, produced by Kevin Churko, was released on November 17, 2014.

To support the release, the band performed at Knotfest on October 25, 2014 before headlining the Black Widow Tour, which kicked off on October 26, 2014 and concluded on December 14, 2014 with Starset, Twelve Foot Ninja, and 3 Pill Morning as the opening acts.[23] The Black Widow shows presented a more elaborate stage show featuring a new set, props, and choreography. Throughout 2015, the headline tour resumed in Europe and the U.S, followed by supporting slots for Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch and Godsmack.[24] In June 18, 2016, the band kicked off The Hellpop 2016 Tour with openers Hellyeah, Sunflower Dead, and Shaman's Harvest before joining Rob Zombie and Korn for their summer tour.[25] On March 16, 2016, Drummer Tom Hane announced his departure from the band, citing creative and artistic unhappiness.[26] The band replaced Hane with Kent Diimmel, the drummer from 3 By Design.[27]

The band made their network television debut on a season 2 episode of TNT's Murder in the First, which premiered on June 8, 2015.[28] The storyline involved a school bus shooting with the band being seen performing "Sick Like Me" in an underground warehouse.

On February 6, 2017, the band announced their North American headlining tour titled Half God, Half Devil. The 19 date tour kicked off on April 7, 2017 with supporting acts Gemini Syndrome, Avatar, and Motionless in White.[29] The tour resumed for a summer trek on June 19, 2017 supported by Motionless in White, Vimic, Starset, and Little Miss Nasty[30] and a fall run will start on September 22, 2017 with Of Mice and Men and Avatar.[31] The set list was compiled from Blood and Black Widow while also debuting three songs from the band's upcoming sixth album, Ritual,[32] including the first single "Oh Lord", and a cover of Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight". Ritual was released on July 21, 2017 and said to have a more serious tone.[33] Guitarist Chris Howorth has described the sound on the upcoming album as "stripped down" and "raw".[34] Lead vocalist Maria Brink says the record is less sexualized than the previous efforts saying, "I wanted to show people and definitely women a different side of strength in me that was a really powerful force in me that didn't need the sexual part, so there's definitely a more serious overtone...a more serious deeper side of us."[35]

The album debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200, selling an estimated 22,000 copies.[36]